Reuse, Recycle, Reduce

I'm a woman on a mission.

Our kids don't start school until Sept 6th, but already the school supplies

are in the stores and the school supply lists are out.

I'll bet many of you will agree that at the end of every school year a ton of those supplies we purchased the previous summer come home alot a little dirtier, but with a lot of life left in them.  Here's some of what I've accumulated walking around the house this morning.

 

  This is what I'm about to use to make all this stuff look like new.

  I'm sure there will still be plenty to buy, but I think it's worth a

shot to breath new life into some of these items.

I'm joining Wednesday's Penny Pinching Party at The Thrifty Home

Going Camping - Not Glamping

We're headed to Mossyrock, WA this week for a few days of camping.  

This is what my garage looks like as I gather our camping gear for the trip.

We camp with 3 other families and divide up the dinners/breakfasts (lunch is every man
for himself).  We eat pretty well, no beans and weanies for these families.  The dinner
menus consist of flank steak, chicken/beef fajitas, pork tenderloin, etc, but it still doesn't
compare with 'glamping'.  Are you familiar with this term?  Glamping is glamorous
camping.  Here are some great images of glamping I found at google images. 

Our version of  'glamping' is buying a tent this year that we can actually stand straight up in,
but this other version looks pretty good too!

Summer Has Arrived!

The title of my post must sound crazy to some of you, but it's true.  We're finally experiencing some steady sunny days here in the NW with temps in the 80's.  Love it!

These are lemons, if they ever turn yellow??

Strawberry plant from my dear friend, Heather, at My Everyday Graces.

The nicer weather has inspired me to do a little freshening up outside.  I posted here about our backyard getting an update last year.  We are really enjoying the water feature.

I used these fabrics to make a few seat cushions and an accent pillow to liven up the seating areas.  They're outdoor fabrics from Joann's.

 I did some cutting to get just the right flower for the front of my pillow.

 This is what I wanted for the center of the pillow.

 Here it is with a couple of store bought pillows from last year.

I backed it with the contrasting fabric and used an envelope closure (see the lens cap)

because I'm terrible at finishing a pillow with a hand stitch.

Here's the other side of the patio.

As you can see, I didn't even finish these seat cushions, but just 

tucked the remaining unsewn side like a pillow case.

  I hope summer lasts awhile!

I'm linking to the following parties:

Handmade Tuesdays at Ladybug Blessings

Show Me What Ya Got at Not Just A Housewife

Outdoor Wednesdays at A Southern Daydreamer